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Wraith Hive Ship
Wraith Hive ships are the main component of the Wraith fleet and the centerpiece of their entire society. Hive ships function in a role similar to that of Ancient City-ships and Traveler generational ships. Overview: A Hive ship is a massive Wraith mothership capable of carrying unknown thousands of Wraith along with their Wraith Dart fighters. Large parts of their internal structure are used to house organic cocoons in which Humans may be stored for later feeding. There are a number of corridors within the large vessel with a fine mist covering the floor. Hive ships are one of the largest ships known to exist, being roughly thirteen times larger than its main combatant, Earth's 304. Despite their size, Hive ships are quite capable of entering a planet’s atmosphere and landing. They are even capable of surviving for countless centuries in such conditions to the point where vegetation and the planet's environment can grow around them. This did not affect the ship as it was quite capable of achieving space flight and combat, suffering little, if any, adverse affects. The hulls of Hive ships are composed of living, and growing, organic matter through the use of a unique type of biotechnology capable of growing at a rapid rate. This has afforded the Wraith Hive ship a number of advantages such as hull regeneration, providing them considerable protection in battles despite the fact that they lack any true energy shielding system. The same system also regulates the internal structure of the ship as well. This makes it possible that a serious error in the ships systems could potentially lead to the ship attempting to reconfigure itself with chambers disappearing and others appearing suddenly. Furthermore, these organic hulls have an effect on their capacity to enter into hyperspace for extended periods of time as the Hive requires moments of rest to heal the damage hyperspace radiation causes the hull. As Hive ships posses no true shields, weapons are considerably more effective against them. This is particularly the case with Asgard plasma beam weapons; being able to completely destroy a Hive ship in just a handful of shots. Drone weapons are also capable of inflicting mass amounts of damage; being able to destroy a Hive in a single, massive, salvo. It has been demonstrated that several well placed drones from a Puddle Jumper can cause critical damage. While Railguns are also capable of inflicting damage, their destructive power is severely limited because of the Hive's massive size. The hull of Hive ships are known to regenerate, being organic in nature. However, the length of time required for this process is unknown. Hive ships can be interfaced with Zero Point Modules, but it takes over a year to do, but makes them incredibly powerful. One Hive ship, the ZPM powered hive ship was interfaced with at least one ZPM and grew even larger, its hull was reinforced, its weapons were a lot more powerful and it was practically invincible. It was able to take hits from Asgard plasma beam weapons and have minimal damage when not fully upgraded, later go up against two 304's and win and go up against Atlantis itself and posses the upper hand even with the city powered by three ZPMs. It also had a severely upgraded hyperdrive that allowed it to arrive at Earth much faster than expected. Its upgraded sensor systems were also able to detect a cloaked Puddle Jumper. It took a Nuclear warhead being detonated on the inside to destroy it. This shows that with enough power, Hive ships could likely easily defeat any foe and that their one weakness is their insufficient power generation. Technology: Command and control systems Hive ships' command structure are dominated by the ship's ruling Hive queen, though there were occasions where a male was in command. Control of the starship, however, resided on the ship's bridge where there are numerous consoles as well as view screens present. At such a location, the bridge crew is capable of commanding the ship's powerful weapons, engines and other similar systems. These controls contain a type of Neural interface that only responds to the unique telepathic signature granted by Wraith DNA. The ease of control depends on the amount of Wraith DNA present in the individual, typically it was taxing on individuals with minor quantities of Wraith DNA, whereas full Wraith have shown no fatigue. The second most important position within the command structure is the throne room where the queen resides. From here, important data can be conveyed to the ruler of the Hive and projected onto a mist-like screen. This allows a queen or male commander in charge to observe data that was transmitted from Wraith tracking drone during their hunts for Runners. Hive ships also have data storage chambers, which contain the ship's databanks as well as archives that contain all the information that the Hive had received. There is also a map room, which may be a vital location when the Wraith began their culling and battle operations. Along the corridors and hallways are also a number of computer consoles through which the crew are capable of accessing certain systems. From these points, a Wraith is able to patch into the communication system and allow for transmissions to be sent from the ship to a nearby planet. Access to such controls also allowed a user to hack into the main systems and disable important systems such as weapons. The ship's external sensors allow them to detect other vessels, but not when they are in hyperspace. Though typically the Wraith are unaccustomed to intruders invading their ships, an alarm system is present which activates in the form of a constant shrieking noise in the background. This system can be activated by the Hive Queen herself through the use of a special pendant. In addition to these, the Wraith possess a communication system which they used to transmit programs to other computers. This allows them to send encrypted computer programs showing videos. This also allows them to send computer viruses into another races' computer systems. Offensive and defensive systems Hive ships contain a powerful array of blue energy-based weapons that encompass most of the ship and fire in a bolt-like fashion. The sheer size of Hives simply allows the vessel to fire dozens of such energy blasts at a target at a constant rate, which was even capable of eventually depleting the Zero Point Module powered shields of the Lanteans. Certain bolts were somewhat larger than others and during close quarters fighting with another Hive, they were capable of causing a great deal of damage and even destroyed an opposing Hive ship, though the close nature of the engagement can mean mutual destruction, as the shock wave from the first ship may destroy the victor as well. Furthermore, a Hive's weapon fire is capable of depleting the Asgard shields of Earth's 304s in several minutes, making such vessels potent threats in open battles. They are even more serious threats when in groups because their combined firepower is capable of destroying a target relatively easily. Unlike a number of species, the ships of the Wraith do not possess shield technology and instead rely on their organic hull armour to protect them from enemy weapon fire. Power is capable of being diverted from other systems and channeled into the organic hull increasing its capacity to regenerate from the damage it had sustained. This provides a number of advantages for the Wraith, as whatever damage the ship sustains manages to heal given time. The problem with this is that it is difficult to coax the systems into bypassing damaged areas. However, during Quicksilver (converted Mckay) developed shielding for the ships without compromising any other system, although there is a notable decrease in sublight mobility. Atleast one hive ship was refitted with this technology, and that one was destoyed in a joint effort of both the hammond and the Daedalus. After the reinforcement of the Atlantis expedition from their home galaxy, the Wraith Hive ships developed an effective countermeasure against their transporter devices. This was the creation of a jamming field that surrounded the ship in electromagnetic static which prevented a target lock from being acquired. As long as the system is up, it is impossible to beam an object to or from within the jamming fields radius. Cocoon systems Being vampiric in nature, the Wraith need to capture their enemies alive in order to feed upon them, and sometimes choose to keep them alive for long periods of time for later feedings. To preserve their live prey in a hibernative state the Wraith use a form of cocoon. These are a typical sight among Wraith installations and consist of an alcove in a wall sealed with a sticky web-like substance that traps the human within the alcove. Most subjects are unconscious when inside the cocoon, though some are active enough to plead for help or attempt to escape. Subjects that are suffering from certain physiological conditions that might mean their deaths are often placed in the cocoon which sustained them for some time. Hyperdrive and propulsion systems The Hive ship contains a hyperdrive unit, allowing the vessel to enter and exit hyperspace. However, unlike the Asgard or the Ancients, these hyperdrives are not intergalactic in nature, which restricted the species to their own galaxy. Furthermore, Hive ships are not able to make long journeys in hyperspace as the radiation from subspace damages to the ship's organic hull. This necessitates making brief hyperspace pauses to regenerate before returning to hyperspace. Because of this, it is possible to calculate where a Hive ship will have to drop out, presenting an opportunity for ambush or attack. When upgraded by having a Zero Point Module powering the ship, the hyperdrive is much faster and seems to be automatically intergalactic. After receiving a message from an alternate reality, the ZPM powered hive ship was able to make an immediate jump into hyperspace and head there. Being upgraded due to the ZPM made it even faster than was anticipated and the Hive ship was able to arrive weeks ahead of what they thought it would. As is the case with most races, the hyperspace signature of the Wraith Hive ship is unique. Because of this, only hyperspace-capable Wraith ships are susceptible to the effects of the Attero device. Hive ships are quite capable of moving at sub-light speeds, allowing for an effective entry and exit into and out of a planet's atmosphere. However, landing a Hive can be a difficult task even in the best of conditions. One of the systems used to accomplish this is a system of at least four forward thrusters, which can be used to slow the ship's descent into the atmosphere of a planet. Construction: Unlike most ships Wraith Hives are "Grown" out of an infested human, and the amount of power available determins weather or not the project is an success. An avarage hive takes 14 posts to "Grow," although if the hive lacks power or is attacked this could take longer. Ships of the Line: There are at least 34 Hive Ships remaining in the Pegasus Galaxy. It is unknown how many more have been "grown" since the start of the Wraith civil war. Category:Wraith Fleet Category:Wraith Category:Pegasus Galaxy